ALT+F4 in MDI-Applications

  • Thread starter Thread starter Michael Maes
  • Start date Start date
M

Michael Maes

Hello,

ALT+F4 is the shortcut to close a form.
When I use this shortcut in an MDI enviroment, the application is closed, so
obviously the shortcut applies to the 'Container' and not to the
'Childform'.
What would be the best practice to capture this event and close the active
child instead of the container (thus trying to end the application).

--
Thanks for helping,

Michael Maes

(I'm using vb.NET 2003 Enterprise Architect & SQL Server 2003 SP3)
 
you could cancel the close event in the mdi parent and close the active
child there
if there are no childs close the main form

eric
 
its the closing event not the close event

EricJ said:
you could cancel the close event in the mdi parent and close the active
child there
if there are no childs close the main form

eric

closed,
Click to expand...
 
Hi Eric,

You could 'e.cancel' the 'closing-event' of the MDI-Form, but then you face
some problems:
What if you want to close the MDI-Form (close-button, menu, esc, or even
ALT+F4). (normally the user closes an application by closing the MDI, not
explicitly closing all the children first)
When you press ALT+F4 when a child has the focus, the event should happen in
the Childform, still the container closes. Does this mean the event is
captured by the containrform and does it know where the request came from
(sender). If that is the case you could cancel the event and close the
"requesting" child.

Michael

| you could cancel the close event in the mdi parent and close the active
| child there
| if there are no childs close the main form
|
| eric
|
| | > Hello,
| >
| > ALT+F4 is the shortcut to close a form.
| > When I use this shortcut in an MDI enviroment, the application is
closed,
| so
| > obviously the shortcut applies to the 'Container' and not to the
| > 'Childform'.
| > What would be the best practice to capture this event and close the
active
| > child instead of the container (thus trying to end the application).
| >
| > --
| > Thanks for helping,
| >
| > Michael Maes
| >
| > (I'm using vb.NET 2003 Enterprise Architect & SQL Server 2003 SP3)
| >
| >
|
|
 
Michael Maes said:
Hello,

ALT+F4 is the shortcut to close a form.
When I use this shortcut in an MDI enviroment, the application is
closed, so obviously the shortcut applies to the 'Container' and not
to the 'Childform'.
What would be the best practice to capture this event and close the
active child instead of the container (thus trying to end the
application).
Click to expand...

To close the active child, use Ctrl+F4. That's the standard. Anything else,
IMHO, would only confuse the user.
 
"Know your Shortcuts...."
Thank you Armin,

Michael


| > Hello,
| >
| > ALT+F4 is the shortcut to close a form.
| > When I use this shortcut in an MDI enviroment, the application is
| > closed, so obviously the shortcut applies to the 'Container' and not
| > to the 'Childform'.
| > What would be the best practice to capture this event and close the
| > active child instead of the container (thus trying to end the
| > application).
|
| To close the active child, use Ctrl+F4. That's the standard. Anything
else,
| IMHO, would only confuse the user.
|
|
| --
| Armin
|
 
* "Michael Maes said:
ALT+F4 is the shortcut to close a form.
When I use this shortcut in an MDI enviroment, the application is closed, so
obviously the shortcut applies to the 'Container' and not to the
'Childform'.
What would be the best practice to capture this event and close the active
child instead of the container (thus trying to end the application).
Click to expand...

This behavior is by design and I would not change it. You can use
Ctrl+F4 to close an MDI child.
 
the ctrl f4 that armin and herfried suggested is of cource better. but if
you really want to use alt F4 i suppose you could build a controle structure
around it to check on wat form the user issued the close command.
 
Hi Michael,

Just as the community said, the standard keyboard shortcut is suitable for
the users. (Ctrl+F4 for child form, Alt+F4 for parent form)
If you still want to use Alt+F4 to close all the child forms before closing
the parent form, you can hook the WM_SYSKEYDOWN message.
It seems that in MDI form, when you press Alt+F4, the WM_SYSKEYDOWN message
is sent to the current Active child form, but not the parent form.
So you should subclass all the child form's wndproc and handle its
WM_SYSKEYDOWN message.
In WM_SYSKEYDOWN message, you should close this child form then jump out of
this procedure.
Something like this:

public const int WM_SYSKEYDOWN = 0x104;
public const int VK_F4 = 0x73;

protected override void WndProc(ref Message m)
{
if(m.Msg==WM_SYSKEYDOWN)
{
if(m.WParam.ToInt32()==VK_F4)
{
MessageBox.Show("Alt+f4");
this.Close();
return;
}
}
base.WndProc (ref m);
}

It works well on my machine, If you have any unclear, please feel free to
let me know.

Best regards,
Jeffrey Tan
Microsoft Online Partner Support
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.

--------------------
| Reply-To: "Michael Maes" <[email protected]>
| From: "Michael Maes" <[email protected]>
| References: <[email protected]>
<[email protected]>
| Subject: Re: ALT+F4 in MDI-Applications
| Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 11:26:42 +0200
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|
| Hi Eric,
|
| You could 'e.cancel' the 'closing-event' of the MDI-Form, but then you
face
| some problems:
| What if you want to close the MDI-Form (close-button, menu, esc, or even
| ALT+F4). (normally the user closes an application by closing the MDI, not
| explicitly closing all the children first)
| When you press ALT+F4 when a child has the focus, the event should happen
in
| the Childform, still the container closes. Does this mean the event is
| captured by the containrform and does it know where the request came from
| (sender). If that is the case you could cancel the event and close the
| "requesting" child.
|
| Michael
|
| | | you could cancel the close event in the mdi parent and close the active
| | child there
| | if there are no childs close the main form
| |
| | eric
| |
| | | | > Hello,
| | >
| | > ALT+F4 is the shortcut to close a form.
| | > When I use this shortcut in an MDI enviroment, the application is
| closed,
| | so
| | > obviously the shortcut applies to the 'Container' and not to the
| | > 'Childform'.
| | > What would be the best practice to capture this event and close the
| active
| | > child instead of the container (thus trying to end the application).
| | >
| | > --
| | > Thanks for helping,
| | >
| | > Michael Maes
| | >
| | > (I'm using vb.NET 2003 Enterprise Architect & SQL Server 2003 SP3)
| | >
| | >
| |
| |
|
|
|
 
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